Book reviews

Professor Smith provides in this book a variety of essays loosely linked by the title The Historian and History. In half a dozen chapters he outlines the history of history from the Hebrew to William Dilthey. In the next three, he discusses theologians, philosophers, and such twentieth-century writers as Spengler, Toynbee, and Eric Voegelin. He analyzes the "professional historian" in relation to the social sciences, reviewing writings on this topic in the American Historical Review and in bulletins of the Social Science Research Council. Turning to "Academic history," and its by-product the "Text," he declares that it is not a detached and objective pursuit of truth (p. 164). This conclusion is more fully illustrated in chapter twelve in connection with studies of the American Revolution by contemporary, nineteenthand twentieth-century writers. Three final essays (or chapters) deal with categories of historical reality, the unity of history, and the search for identity—the "classic search of our time" (p. 232). This theme affords opportunity for an examination of what is wrong with modern man. History being a reservoir of examples and models, involvement in which enables man to survive, the restoration of the dramatic in history could do much to fortify the individual in his effort to discover his identity (p. 245). Professor Smith is obviously a thoughtful and stimulating teacher. A course following the pattern of this book must interest many students and inspire some with a zeal for the study of the past in its "older and profounder sense" (p. 248) as a means of securing their faith in the potentialities of the human world. He has been perhaps overbold in his analysis of categories of historical reality and in a somewhat rough-and-ready approach to the philosophical problems raised in the course of his investigations. For others than his students, the chapter on the American Revolution may prove the most profitable. Professor Smith is here writing of his peers who since 1776 have studied the birth pangs of their country. Remarks on David Ramsay, George Bancroft, Arthur Schlesinger and the Morgans are worth reading as a summary guide to the bewildering variety of opinions in this area. Professor Smith defends narrative history and a dramatic approach to man's battle with his many problems, condemns claims to scientific precision, and emphasizes the moral purpose of his craft.

Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, No. LII. October, 1817* Art. I.?Case of Injury of the Spinal Cord. By John Gordon, M.D. Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. This case is well worth recording, as it contains a more minute description of the effect of fractured vertebra; than is usually met with. We think the practice' of applying leeches somewhat tame, where the consequences are so soon and so much to be dreaded. We should have preferred cupping-glasses or bold venisection, or both. There is, indeed, no reason to suppose either would have been useful; but, if any thing was attempted, it should have been with a boldness and decision equal to the danger. Audacter ferramenturri imprimere debet, ut agat aliquid. This paper abounds with just observations; but there is a tvant of attention to language which surprised us greatly in such a writer. To several very just remarks concerning a deep-rooted prejudice in the public, and even in some of the profession, against blood-letting in continued fever, a note is appended, complaining of the unbecoming language and conduct of two practitioners in a case of epilepsy, for which the author advised blood-letting.
On this occasion we are forced to remark, that, if philosophers, and such we consider Dr. Pritchard, indulge themselves in the use of loose terms, when discussing so important a subject as the treatment of a disease, they must not wonder if men of inferior acquirements seize the only advantage they have over so powerful an antagonist j if they urge that bleeding is improper in typhus, and that epilepsy, being a nervous disease, is likely to be exasperated by evacuants of any kind. Had we been honoured with this communication, we should not have scrupled to return it to the author, with a few hints for his better consideration: as it is, we can only offer them for his government in future, or for our own correction if we are found in an error. To the term continued fever we can have no objection; but where was the necessity of introducing the word typhus. If this term relates to the infectious property of the disease, every practitioner knows that infectious and contagious fevers from similar sources tion of the constitution in typhus as depending on local disease. This opinion I know to be contrary to the most prevalent doctrine in medical schools and among medical authors; yet, as many false notions have long continued to be current from the effect of their previous ascendency, I do not consider this as a proof that my own observations are at variance with the results of general experience. There is one writer, however, who has taken the same side of this question* 403? question, which I am disposed to hold; and it will be seen that tliff facts I have to adduce tend, as far as their evidence goes, to eonfirm the opinion which he has maintained respecting the nature and treatment of continued fever. I scarcely need add, that the authof to whom I allude is Dr. Mills of Dublin, to whom the profession and the public are much indebted. " I shall hasten to insert, in as brief and condensed a manner as possible, some notes referring to a few of the cases of typhus, which I have lately treated in St. Peter's Hospital; but I wish, in the first place, to state one or two considerations, which are favourable to the notion that this fever is a symptomatic rather than an idiopathic disease.
?cialiy, as Sir Gilbert Blane* has remarked, blisters in the immediate vicinity of the inflamed part are often worse than ? useless. We could wish, also, that Dr. Prichard would look a little further backward than the medical gentlemen he has quoted: highly respectable as they are, it should be recollected that R. Jackson and Sutton were much before them in this mode of treating fevers, equally infectious and more violent than those described by Dr These Transactions begin now to assume a kind of official form, the Society having expressed its intention of producing a yearly volume. It is not less certain that it consists of men who have the Largest opportunities of practical knowledge, and who are not less respectable for scientific attainments,.
But it unfortunately happens, in every branch of medicine, that such men have but little leisure, and, for the most quart, less inclination, to write. The first difficulty might seem a sufficient apology were it universal; the second may often be imputed to the sage answer of Lucullus's wealthy veteran?" Vadat qui zonam perdidit." It is, however, much to the public advantage that a rival Society to that of Bolt-court has been established. Highly respectable as the last part of the Memoirs of that venerable institution must be universally considered, the papers were principally medical. These 44 Transactions" are, with very few exceptions, chirurgical, and, though chiefly produced by the junior members, are none of. them without their 'shaije of merit. The first involves a question concerning early amputation, which has of late come frequently before us. iieport of the State of the Wounded, on board Ilis Majesty's Ship Leander, in the Action before Algiers; extracted from a Letter from D.Quarrier,M.D. Surgeon to the Leander, to the Commissioners for Transports. Communicated by Sir Gilbert Bmne, Ban. " Herewith 1 enclose a Report of the wounded on-board this ship, by which you will perceive that the Leander has suffered most severely in this arduous conflict; many of the wounds were inflicted by large round, and double-headed or bar shot; others by grape, langrage, and musquetry, and some few by splinters; but we were * Paper on Tracheitis in Medico-Cbirurg. Trans, vol. vi. p. 14*7 3 G 2 in in a great measure secured from the latter by our being almost in contact with the shore, and no accident whatever occurred on board, but by the direct fire of the enemy. All our amputations were performed immediately, without waiting for re-action; and it may be necessary to observe, that, though many of the men were carried down with their limbs torn from them; others with the most severe lacerations and fractures; and one young officer in particular, with the spine of the ileum, and all the anterior abdominal muscles torn away, exposing the contents of the abdomen; yet in 110 instance could we perceive the dreadful perturbation and constitutional shock so frequently described by authors on gun-shot wounds, until some time after the injury had been received; and I have every reason to conceive, that amputation having so promptly followed the wound, was the only effectual means of saving many from its baneful influence, even under the very unfavourable circumstances in which we were placed. Indeed, gentlemen, no language can pourtray the horrors of the Leander's cock-pit for a period of thirteen hours. Sixty-five men were wounded, and several killed, by the first and second broadsides; two poor boys were most dreadfully burnt by a red-hot shot blowing up the cartridge, which one of them was carefully guarding. The small space occupied for their accommodation was instantly crowded to excess: without air; panting for breath; bathed in a most profuse perspiration, and unable to stand upright, these men were to be attended to; water! water! was the incessant cry; most fortunately an abundance had been provided, and the women supplied it liberally. I have already said, gentlemen, that no language can describe the horrors of this scene, but you may figure to yourselves the condition of the miserable sufferers in the black hole at Calcutta, and you will have a correct picture of our condition. Under these disadvantages and difficulties, our operations were performed; and the poor patients were afterwards exposed to the double danger of being trampled on by those who were rushing forward for relief. We could not place them on the lower deck, as many had been wounded there, and the shot were coming in very rapidly. To illustrate what I have observed respecting the non-appearance of thai peculiar derangement of the sensorium, which is said always to attend wounds inflicted by large cannon-shot, I shall proceed to give you the following examples.
"?Captain Willson, of the Royal Marines, had both his limbs torn awav by a double-headed shot; and David Barry, a seaman, jha<J both his thighs torn off by a cannon-ball. Amputation was immediately performed very high up. They lived some hours, and were perfectly sensible until within a few moments of their death. ** Timothy Sullivan, seaman, had his left thigh most cruelly lacerated, the bone having been fractured up to its head, the nerves and blood-vessels torn asunder. The crural artery was readily secured at the groin. His right arm was fractured, and he had a wound in the breast. Francis 41s Francis Coulthred, who had his right thigh shattered and carried away by a cannon-ball, made such an appeal for him, that he could be no longer resisted. No! said this brave seaman, when he was going to be lifted, I am comparatively easy now; let me entreat you to render some assistance to that poor fellow who is suffering so much, he was a prisoner with me eight years. Amputation was consequently performed at the hip-joint, after the manner of M.
Larrey: the vessels were readily secured, and he did not lose four ounces of blood; but, as I had anticipated, he expired almost immediately afterwards. Coulthred, who evinced so much humanity, friendship, and patience, had his thigh amputated, and is now doing well. Six were amputated above the knee, some very high up, where we found the tourniquet useless; but there was no difficulty in restraining the haemorrhage by the thumb, until the artery was secured. Three were amputated above the elbow, and two in the fore-arm. All bore the operation with great fortitude, and no unfavourable symptom occurred, even although one of them was much injured by a man who was mortally wounded kicking his stump while in the agonies of death. Some of the amputated arms are cured; but I shall send them to the hospital to secure them from their numerous visitors, who, under the idea of kindness, induce them to become irregular, and ruin their health and constitution. One of the boys, so dreadfully scorched, died on the 1st instant; the other is convalescent, but he will be rendered incapable of further service. John Williams died on the 8th: he had been rejected at Portsmouth, where he entered, in consequence of being consumptive, but, having produced an excellent character, and being captain of a gun, the commanding officer requested me to endeavour to cure him: his natural ardour took him 011 deck in the moment of danger, and his thigh was amputated in consequence of a wound by a cannon-ball. His fine spirits supported him, uutil nature being exhausted under such an accumulation of disease, he sunk to rise no more." Seventy of the wounded were comfortably accommodated on the main deck, and in different degrees of convalescence, off Gibraltar, when a " pestilential easterly wind sat in," "which induced fever, and every unfavourable aspect in the bounds. A removal produced every good effect in a day's time, shewing that the fever and the unfavourable local symptoms arose, not from any thing generated among the sick, but from atmospherical influence;, Several very useful remarks follow, with a reference to Mr. Copland Hutchison's work, lately noticed in our Journal.
The numbers wounded were Vil: of these, 76 were discharged fit for duty, 6 invalided, 4 died, and remain on the sick list. The four who died had submitted to the operation a very few hours before death.
(To be continued.) Foreign FOREIGN PUBLICATIONS.

AMERICA.
A System of Anatomy, for the use of Students of Medicine.
By Caspar Wistar, M.D. Professor of Anatomy in the University of Pennsylvania. 9, vols. Svo.
[From the Npw-Eiigland Journal of Medicine, &c.] The honour of giving to the United States the first American system of anatomy, belongs to the distinguished author of the publication before us. Nor is this its strongest claim to our attention, since it is the production of one, who has long been a celebrated and successful teacher in the first medical school of our country, of one, whose name has long been in the mouth of thousands of physicians, grateful for the fruits of his instructions. With such titles to notice as these, we presume that our tardiness in attending to it, will be attributed to other causes than a want of proper estimation of its importance, or of respect for its scientific and honourable author.
In an attempt to review a work of this nature, it will not be necessary to give an exact account of its contents; and still less so, to enter on a discussion of minute points in anatomy, or doubtful questions in physiology. The proper inquiry is, whether such a publication was called for by the ?wants of the country ; and if so, whether it is well calculated to supply those wants. The first step in such an inquir}*seems to be, to take a view, perhaps quite cursory, of the books on anatomy, in common use, especially in the United States.
Our students of medicine have been," we believe, in the habit of employing formerly the system of Cheselden, and of late years, that of the Bells. The precision, simplicity, and comprehensiveness of Cheselden, have continued its popularity longer than is common ; and it has passed through two or three editions in this country; but it is too concise for present use, and its physiology is in many parts defective, and in some quite erroneous. The writings of Mr. John Bell, the principal author of the system bearing that name, have caused a great diversity of opinion, as to their merits; for, while none have been more sharply criticised, none have been more generally read. They are evidently the effusions of a man of strong feelings and great talents; who, resolved not to fetter himself with exact forms of expression, indulges the free current of his pen, and does not allow himself to be checked by precision, when it would interrupt the interest, and cool the ardour of his description.
He He always colours strongly, often with coarseness, and sometimes incorrectly. It may very properly be made a question, whether this kind of style is admissible in anatomy, or any other science composed of descriptions of natural objects. Boyer, so remarkable for his exactness, objects decidedly to the use of figurative or ornamental language, "where clearness and precision are so important; and he not only recommends, but gives, through his works, an example of the most severe and unmixed style. Voltaire, he says, complains, and produces it as a proof of bad taste, that eloquence had been introduced even into anatomy. While the justness of these remarks would prevent our recommending Mr. Bell as an exclusive elementary author, we ought to be grateful to him for opening an avenue, which conducts us pleasantly through the rough and forbidding parts of the science, and which invites the advances of many, who would be terrified and repelled by the difficult and barren descriptions of Boyer.
There is a work, which passes under the name of the Edinburgh system of anatomy. This is not destitute of merit; but is defective in some parts, and redundant in others, and altogether a heterogeneous mass, thrown together without method. We have, therefore, no great reason to regret that it has never been reprinted in this country.
Dr. Alexander Monro of Edinburgh, the third professor of anatomy and surgery, bearing that name, has lately made public the course of instruction pursued by his illustrious predecessors and himself. His arrangement is peculiar. He places first the organs of motion, next those of nutrition; namely, the digestive, absorbent, circulatory, and respiratory ; then of the voice; afterwards of the urinary and generative functions; next the nervous system, the brain and organs of the senses; and lastly, the distribution of the arteries, veins, nerves, and lymphatics. The description of each apparatus is preceded by a general account of that apparatus, and followed by a collection of relative pathological facts. The latter contains many interesting observations; but cannot be ranked with the collections of Portal; and appears extremely meagre, compared to what we might expect from the storehouse of the Monros. The work, however, appears valuable as well as agreeable, and therefore will be popular; and the author's industry will no doubt be excited -to maintain the great name of his family, by improving and enlarging his future editions. _ The French anatomists have been distinguished by the production of some excellent treatises. The anatomy of babatier differs from the systems of the other French writers, 2 in in being a mixture of anatomy and physiology. Notwithstanding this deviation from the custom of the French, it was well received and used as the standard work, until the anatomy of Boyer appeared, which, by its exactness and its rejection of physiology, immediately superseded the former. Boyer's anatomy is a specimen of the most exact and minute description of physical objects. His descriptions of the muscles especially, are extended to a minuteness, which seems unnecessary, and perhaps will not be very acceptablc in any country but France. An exact description of the osseous fabric is more useful, because the description of most other parts is continually referring to this; that of Boyer, therefore, if diligently studied, is calculated to form an excellent foundation for the science, and even to create a passion for it. This author is also to be admired for the firmness, with which he maintains his exact method of descrip, tion against all the obstacles that present themselves. The descriptive anatomy of Bichat, bears strong marks of that powerful genius, that gives an air of novelty to every thing it touches. One would scarcely have thought it possible to add so much interest to so ancient and precise a study, as that of anatomy, by some changes in arrangement, some alterations of nomenclature, and some new ideas, or rather new views of things already known. It is unfortunate that a part only of the descriptive system was the work of Bichat; for he died when about half of it only was accomplished. The remainder was performed by his pupils Buisson and Roux, in a manner, not dishonourable to the reputation of these ingenious men, but which has not the spirit of their master.
Bichat did not attempt great innovations in the system of descriptive anatomy, probably because he did not consider them necessary, or did not believe they would be received. .He proposed, indeed, a different arrangement, because the old one was extremely defective ; but he corrected the nomenclature with a temperate hand, and yet availed himself with so much address of the labours of Chaussier, that, while the nomenclature of the latter is hardly adverted to, but as a curiosity, the changes of Bichat are actually adopted in France, and will be so in England, as soon as his anatomy has received an English dress.* Professor Soemmerring's book, " De Corporis Humani Fabrica," is valuable as a collection of facts, but intolerable for its style. The Latin translator employed by Soemmerring has involved his ideas in very long and obscure sen-* This anatomy is now translating into English. tences.
Dr. Wistar's System of Anatomy* 417 tences. The construction of~a sentence of six or eight lines is as much as we can commonly embrace with convenience, in the vernacular language-; but this translation presents us sentences of half a page, and even of a complete octavo page, of difficult Latin. This might be easily remedied in an English translation, to which the work has every claim, as well as the publications on the eye, ear, the organs of smelling, tasting, &c. all of them possessed of so much merit, that the industry and ingenuity of posterity will with difficulty surpass them, A novel and beautiful treatise on anatomy may yet be composed, in which the plan would be. strictly analytical.
Such a system would not, indeed, be calculated for the beginner, because it would require a preliminary knowledge of the elements of the human fabric, and especially of the osseous system. It should commence with a description of the external form and proportions of the body, their, differences in individuals and in the sexes. Next would follow an exact examination of the prominences and depressions, which present themselves, particularly about the articulations, and a comparison of them with some of the phenomena, which are the consequences of disease or accident.
After this might be described the appearance of the skin in various healthy individuals, its alterations in colour and texture from disease; and then its internal structure. To this "would succeed the cellular membrane, the fascia; and, those being supposed to be turned aside, the muscles, arteries, veins, nerves, lymphatic glands, and their connexions and relations to each other, displayed in such lights, as would ex-Libit them most distinctly and usefully, and, above all, their relations to those parts of. the bony fabric, which are most remarkable on the surface of the body. The same plan might be pursued in regard to the organs of the great cavities. The advantages of such a system of anatomy must be obvious. It is the anatomy for practice. It is the. anatomjthat ever}' one meets when he dissects the dead body. It is the anatomy that every oije must picture to his imagination, "when he takes up the knife to operate. Many materials for such a system are already prepared by the admirable labours P.f Cooper, the Bells, Monro, Burns, and Watt.
The work, which is the object of these remarks, was designed by its author, principally for the use of those who ^ttencl his course of lectures. Its plan is adapted accordingly, and does not seem to be copied from that of any other )vriter. The defective and embarrassing division of the subject of anatomy into seven parts, which has been received hy almost all anatomical writers, is here quite abandoned.
-The book is divided into eleven parts. The first contains the tosseous system j the second the muscular j third, the li~ no. 225, 3h gamentary 418 Critical Analysis.
gamentary and synovial; fourth, the brain, spinal marrow, eye and ear ; fifth, the integuments, cellular membrane, and skin. The arrangement thus far agrees with that proposed by Bichat; but in the remainder of the work, the author, governed no doubt by convenience for dissection and demonstration, has pursued a different method. In part sixth, he describes the nose, mouth, and throat; in part seventh, , the thorax and its contents ; in the eighth, the organs of the abdomen and pelvis; ninth, the blood-vessels; tenth, the nerves; eleventh, the absorbent vessels; lastly, an appendix on the blood, and structure of glands, and a glossary of anatomical terms. This plan is perfectly adapted to the circumstances which occur in a course of lectures on anatomy ; and, as the design of the author was to make his work an auxiliary to his course, his judgment could not be better exliibited than in such a plan. The lecturer on anatomy is for the most part excluded from the advantages of an exact method, although perhaps there is no science in which they li^ould be more desirable; for a distinct and connected plan of arrangement would enable the student to form some anticipated notion of the parts of the human fabric, and thus dissipate that perplexing obscurity, which arises from the dependance of the knowledge of one part on that of another. To one, also, who has become in some measure acquainted with the whole human system, it is a great pleasure and advantage to look back, through the medium of a good arrangement, and in a single view, to connect the knowledge of all those parts, which it has cost much time and pains to study separately. In point of connexion, the excellence of the arrangement, proposed by Bichat, is veiy conspicuous. For its foundation it takes the uses or functions of organs; and its principal divisions are laid out conformably to the finest views of agreement and difference in the beings, which compose the organized creation.
In the first and second parts, which treat of the osseous and muscular systems, Dr. Wistar has not considered it necessary to vary his language materially from that of other ?ymters; because he found theirs well accommodated to his purpose. In speaking of the articulations, he, with great justice, questions the utility of the common arrangement of those parts. We would agree with him in rejecting their nomenclature and arrangement altogether. The terms of symphysis and suture, it might be necessary to retain, because they have been applied to particular parts, namely, the connexion of the bones of the pubes with each other, and that of the bones of the cranium; yet they ought to be considered as denoting, not species, but individual articulations.
As ?As for the synchondrosis, synneurosis, syssarcosis, and synarthrosis, gomphosis and scindelesis, and diarthrosis,'enarthrosis, arthrodia, ginglymus, and amphiarthrosis, they are horrible terms, meaning nothing useful; they are a stumbling block to the young student, and a laughing stock to the proficient; they are rarely understood by any one, and no sooner understood than forgotten; in short, they are scarcely explained by two anatomists in the same "\Vay, and seem to be of no other use than to enable stupid teachers to astonish ignorant young men.
The third part, which treats on the ligaments* &c. contains many useful additions to our English anatomy. The fourth is peculiarly excellent. The description of the organ of visibn is one of the most exact pieces of anatomy we possess; that of the organ of hearing renders this difficult part remarkably clear and intelligible, and at the same time exhibits powers of strong conception and distinct description. The account of the nostrils, mouth, and fauces, is Very satisfactory and useful. The organs of the thorax and GERMANY.
The above little work commences with critical illustrations of the. operation of lithotomy, and the various methods in which that operation has been performed, from the time of Marianus Sanctus down to Langenbeck. With the latter and Camper, the author recommends an extensive wound in the bladder; in other respects, he makes use of Langenbeck's apparatus with the greatest advantage. The first observations describe the successful issue of the operation performed on a boy of six years of age, who had suffered for four years before the disease was ascertained, and afterwards confirmed by the examination with the catheter. The operation was performed on the 5th of May, after Langenbeck's method, and succeeded so well, that the little patient, who had been previously much emaciated, was restored soon after to his parents, and in the best health. The same method was equally successful in the case of a man pretty far advanced in years.
, The second section treats on the operation for the cataract,. This operation has ever shared, a similar fate with that before-mentioned ; each operator had his own peculiar method of operating, instruments, either invented or improved by himself, and considered his own as the only safe method and apparatus. The author, for the most part steering clear of ieach, considers only critically the two principal methods which have been practised, viz. extraction and depression. Both have been practised with equal Success* and both had their respective champions among the most respectable of the profession. Dr. Hendriksz, from his own experience, prefers the extraction of the lens or its capsula, to depression. If the anterior, posterior, or whole surface of the capsula is opake, or if it adheres to the iris, at the opening of the pupil, (synizesis,) the indication will always be in favour of extraction. Besides, in depression, the patient is always exposed to the danger of its rising again* partly or wholly, and resuming its former situation. The author recommends the instrument invented by Guerin and improved by himself, as particularly useful. The fleam invented by Guerin, and Scarpa's needle for depression, and, in case the lens lens does not come out of its own accord, Daviel's spoon and a pair of pincers to remove the capsula are all the instruments he makes use of. The reason why he prefers the fleam, is the fixed and immoveable condition it gives the eye, in consequence of the excavated ring on its inner peripheric side, without, however, in the least pressing it; it also keeps the eyelids at a distance from each other, retaining the aqueous humour, and, consequently, keeping the cornea tense, and, above all, the secure performance of the incision, by determining its depth, size, and semicircular shape. Of seven patients on whom the author operated in this manner very lately, six recovered entirely. Towards the conclusion of this chapter, he-makes some remarks on the proper nature of the true black cataract, which he does not wish to be confounded with that generally termed gutta serena, or amaurosis. " Experience (says he,) has taught us, that the lens may assume a dark, opake, and even black appearance,?a complaint which better deserves the name of amaurosis than a palsy of the optic nerve." The third section treats of amputations, which, besides a very remarkable observation upon an amputation below the knee-joint, in a general and complete degeneration of the substance of the bone, contains some critical and practical ideas on the extirpation of the joints, and the uncertainty of separating the morbid substance of the bone from the healthy part, &c.
The fourth and last section contains some practical and diagtiostical ideas on the character and treatment of sarcocele and testicles enlarged and degenerated by inflammation. Disorders which particularly require the extirpation of the testicles are, according to our author's opinion, either a scirrhous degeneration of their substance, or a suppuration. That scirrhous degeneration, kno\vn by the name of sarcocele, is to be carefully distinguished from all other testicular enlargements, and particularly Irom that swelling and" induration which is the consequence of previous inflammation, as the latter affection never, but the former always, requires extirpation. Antecedent inflammation, a gradual hardness, swelling of the affected part to a certain degree, are the symptoms which the author ascribes to an indurated testicle of this description. The nature of sarcocele, on the contrary, he describes to consist in a degeneration of the organic principle of the testicle, specific gravity and hardness, a rough surface, pricking pains, a fixed pain in the spermatic cord, followed by violent pain when the tumour is touched, degeneration of the spermatic cord, varicose distensions of the vessels of the scrotum followed by erysipelatous pelatous inflammation of the latter, itching pain and excoriation of the same, local inflammation of the skin, followed by exulceration, fungus, suppuration, and ichorous secretion* combined with wasting of the whole body, are described as the characteristic symptoms of scirrhus, or, which is the same with our author, of sarcocele.
[In our next we shall give an account of Dr. Mansert's Treatise on Puncturing the Cornea.] . Critical Analysis. and thus produce the central current. In reversing the experiment, when the hot phial is surrounded with cold water, the external particles, instead of being heated, lose caloric, or become cooled, and consequently diminished in bulk: their specific gravity is lessened; and therefore they descend ; and the central particles, being warmer and specifically lighter, becoming forced up, the currents are reversed.
" To render the experiment more decisive, the lower part of the ;water may be coloured by tincture of cabbage, or red iuk, leaving the upper part uncoloured. If heat be then applied to the bottom part of the glass, the coloured part of the water gradually ascends, and uniformly tinges the whole fluid. Now this certainly can only take place by the actual mechanical interchange of the particles of the water itself. The heat which is applied to the lower strata of the water, becomes specifically lighter than the other particles; it is, therefore, pressed upwards by the adjoining particles, and, being at liberty to move, it changes its place, and is urged up to the surface, viz. in consequence of the fluidity of the body, and the expansion of tile separated particles. New particles approach the source of heat, combine with it in their turn, are again displaced, and thus the currents are produced. The rapidity of the motion of the currents (the cause of which is a change in the specific gravity of the fluid, produced by a change of temperature) is in proportion to the change of the specific gravity of the fluid, by any given temperature." Rotary Motion of Camphor upon Water.?Fill a saucer or broad bason with water, and let fall upon it camphor, reduced to the form of coarse sand. The floating particles will instantly begin to move and acquire a progressive rotary motion, which continues for some minutes, and then gradually subsides. If the water be touched by any substance which is in the slightest degree greasy, all the floating particles briskly dart back, and are, as if by a stroke of magic, instantly deprived of their motion and vivacity.
Rationale.?A variety of opinions have been formed concerning this phenomenon. Lichtenberg. assigned it to the emanation of an etherial gas from the morsels of the camphor. There was, however, always a certain mysterious caprice in these motions, according to which they sometimes could not' be produced; and on other occasions, the motions were instantly stopped when the water was touched with certain bodies, without its being easy to guess the reason.
And all these circumstances tended to envelope the phenomenon with obscurity. Venturi was the first who explained the experiment. He was led to the explanation in the following manner: ' ' Pieces of camphor were cut into the form of small columns, one inch in length; a base of lead was fixed to each column; they were then placed upright in very clean saucers, and pure water poured in, to half the height of the column. Two or three hours afterwards, an horizontal notch was manifest in the columu of camphor at the surface Surface of the water; and in the course of twenty-four hours, by the notch becoming gradually deeper, the column of camphor was cut in two at the middle. The two pieces of the column, nevertheless, that is to say the lower, which was immersed in the water, and the upper in the air, suffered scarcely any perceptible diminution.
From this experiment, and others made with different pieces of camphor, kept separately in the air, in the water, and at the surface of tiie water, Veuturi deduces, that the most active virtue for dissolving camphor, resides at that part where both the air and the water touch it at the same time.
The camphor at the surface of the water, does nothing, therefore, but dissolve; and, when dissolved at the ordinary temperature of ther atmosphere, it is not at first in the state of vapour, as has been thought; it is simply a liquid, which extends itself over the surface of the water; and by this means, coming into contact with a great surface of air, it is afterwards absorbed and evaporated; The rotary motion of the pieces at the surface of the water, is therefore supposed to be simply the mechanical effect of the re-action which the oily or camphoric liquor, extending itself upon the water, exercises against the camphor itself. If the retro-active centre of percussion of all the jets do not coincide with the centre of gravity, a combined motion of rotation and progression must follow. And, as the departure of the camphoric solution takes place only at the surface of the water, the rotation cannot be effected but round an axis perpendicular to the horizon; and since, in similar bodies of different magnitudes the algebraic ratio of the sides to the mass increases in the inverse duplicate ratio of the sides themselves, the small particles must have proportionally more jets, and must revolve mote speedily than the larger. No better explanation has yet been given.' The experiments are 103 in number, at the end of which Mr. Accum has added " A descriptive Catalogue of his apparatus and instruments employed in experimental and operative chemistry, in analytical mineralogy, and in the pursuits of the recent discoveries of voltaic electricity."